A Generational Transition at FARELLA VINEYARD

The family estate helped put the Coombsville AVA on the map, but the future could be complicated

- BY JAMES MOLESWORTH

Tom Farella has been "all in" since he and his father, Frank, decided to forge the family's namesake wine label in 1991. In its early days, the Farella vineyard in Coombsville served as a fruit source for Robert Mondavi and Opus One. As the Farella family turned to winemaking, the success of its Cabernet Sauvignons helped to win approval for the Coombsville AVA in 2011, with Tom writing the application himself. Over time, the label has established a distinctive track record for decidedly old-school Cabernet with serious cellaring potential.

A lot has changed along the way, but nothing has been quite the same since April, when Frank Farella died at age 95. As Robert Mondavi's personal lawyer, Frank was a longtime player in Napa Valley, an insider's insider who was eagerly sought out for his advice and assistance, especially when a big deal was at stake.

"He wasn't a trial lawyer," Tom says. "He made deals and was on the phone a lot. I remember as a child walking into the kitchen and he'd be on the phone and he'd headnod at me. One time he got off and said, 'I was just wrapping up the Constellation deal for Mondavi.'"

Frank bought the family property in 1977, one of the last parcels broken off from the historic Nathan Coombs estate. On a lark, he planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines, even though his wine industry friends told him he was crazy, saying Coombsville was too cold for Cabernet. Today, the area's cooler temperatures make it an ideal spot for the variety in a region that now deals with heat pressure nearly every year.

Before deciding to work full-time with his father, Tom spent time in Burgundy, developing an Old World stylistic preference. In the late 1980s, he started making his own wines with some of the fruit from the family's vineyard.